Women’s representation and gender gaps in political participation: do time and success matter in a cross-national perspective?

Abstract

This analysis challenges the notion that women’s representation does not influence gender gaps in political participation in cross-national studies by arguing that women’s representation should be measured differently. Using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, the paper demonstrates that long-term effects of women’s representation are more important than short-term measures in understanding gender gaps in a variety of political activities. The length of time since women have gained access to the political system explains gender gaps to a greater extent than the presence of women in the legislature and cabinet at one point in time. Additionally, when women’s representation is measured by the presence of women politicians in cabinet, findings show that the conclusions of previous work on women’s representation and political behavior may not extend beyond the US case. Finally, this study demonstrates that the type of political activities matter when analyzing the effect of women’s representation.

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